jones



Jan. 24. 1956 c. T. A. JONES RECORD-CONTROLLED TYPE am ssw'rmc MECHANISM 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 26, 1953 lll l||||||| MjJjLLJ Inventor TUNES CHARLES 77 A A ttorney Jan. 24, 1956 c. T. A. JONES 2,731,911

4 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG/A.

Inventor HARLES 71 A, J'ONES A Itorney Jan. 24, 1956 c, JONES 2,731,911

RECORD-CONTROLLED TYPE BAR SETTING MECHANISM Fi led June 26, 1953 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 lnven tor CHARLES T- A- JONES Altorney Jan. 24, 1956 c. T. A. JONES 2,731,911

RECORD-CONTROLLED TYPE BAR SETTING MECHANISM Filed June 26, 1953 4 SheetsSheet 4 A ltorney United States Patent RECORD-CONTROLLED TYPE BAR SETTING MECHANISM Charles Thomas Arthur Jones, Wallington, England, as-- signor to Powers-Samas Accounting Machines Limited, London, England, a British company Application June 26, 1953, Serial No. 36 4,4tl1 Claims priority, application Great Britain August 25, 1952 Claims. (Cl. 101-93) This invention relates to statistical machines and in particular to a statistical machine which is controlled by record cards and has rows of control stops settable under control of a record card to control the setting of differentially settable type element carrying members.

According to the present invention there is provided in a statistical machine controlled by record cards and having rows of control stops settable under control of a record card to control the setting of differentially settable type element carrying members, apparatus comprising for each row of control stops a differential device supported for movement over and lengthwise of a row of control stops and including a cage, a first toothed rack supporting a type element carrying member, a second toothed rac said racks being movable with the cage and lengthwise relatively one to the other and to the cage and a rotatable pinion supported by the cage and coupling said racks a first abutment member on said cage to arrest movement thereof on engagement with an actuated stop of a first group of stops in said row, a second abutment member on said second rack to arrest movement thereof on engagement with an actuated stop of a second group of stops in said row, resilient means acting on said first rack and tending to urge the differential device towards said first group of stops and to effect relative movement between the racks on arrest of the cage by a stop of said first group, and a restoring element common to the dif ferential devices and co-operating with the first racks thereof to permit movement of the differential devices from a starting position therefor under control of said resilient means and to restore the devices to said starting position.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood one embodiment thereof will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the diagrammatic drawings in which:

Figures 1 and 1A combined constitute a section through a part of a record card controlled printing machine and illustrates the apparatus according to the invention,

Figures 2 and 2A combined show some of the mechanism illustrated in Figures 1 and 1A with the parts in positions different from those which they occupy in Figures 1 and 1A.

Figure 3 illustrates rack aligner mechanism, the parts being shown in the inoperative positions thereof in contradistinction to the operative positions which are illustrated in Figures 1 and 1A, and

Figure 4 illustrates eliminator mechanism whereby, under control of a record card, the apparatus according to the invention can be rendered inoperative.

Referring to the drawings, the apparatus according to the invention incorporates a platen around which, in known manner, is fed a web of paper 11. As will be well understood in the art, the platen 10 is common to a plurality of type element carrying members 12 each of which is differentially settable so that one of a plurality of type elements 13 carried thereby can be located in printing position with relation to the platen and aligned 2,731,911 Patented Jan. 24, 1956 with an interponent 14 which, on being struck by a hammer element 15, causes the type element 13 to impinge against the paper 11 and form an impression thereon. It will also be well understood that each of the type element carrying members 12 is settable by a like mechanism and, accordingly, for simplicity there will herein be described only the mechanism for operating a single type element carrying member.

As has been stated above, each type element carrying member 12 is provided with a plurality of type elements 13, for example it may support forty type elements and selection of the forty type elements is effected, under control from a statistical record card, by control stops in accordance with the set-up of the stops as determined by the data recorded on the record card.

In the embodiment of the invention being described there is provided for each type element carrying member a row of control stops, the row consisting of twelve stops, one for each data-indicating position in a vertical column of a statistical record card. In the drawings, the control stops are indicated by the general reference character CS and each row comprises two groups of stops of which the first group consists of three stops as indicated by the letters A, B, and C, respectively and the second group comprises nine stops as indicated by the reference numerals 1 to 9 inclusive.

As shown in Figure 1, the control stops are supported for vertical movement by plates 16 and 17 and, as viewed in Figure 1, each is movable in sion element 18 actuated in known manner as the result of the sensing of a statistical record card. The control stops CS are restored to their inactive position, that is the positions shown in Figure l, by restoring elements 19 common to all of the rows of control stops, the elements 19 being supported for simultaneous operation by a vertically reciprocable member 20, operation of which is effected in any suitable manner.

The apparatus according to the present invention for differentially setting the type elements 13 carried by a type element carrying member 12 comprises a differential device which includes a first toothed rack 21 to which the type element carrying member 12 is secured for movement lengthwise therewith. The differential device also includes a second toothed member 22, a cage 23 and a rotatable pinion 24 which is supported to be freely rotatable about a pin 25 carried by the cage 23. The pinion 24 meshes with and couples the racks 21, 22 to permit lengthwise relative movement of the racks.

The first rack 21 is guided for lengthwise movement by a roller 26 supported by the cage 23 and also by comb members 27 and 28 and the second rack 22 is guided for lengthwise movement by longitudinal grooves in the plate 17 and by the lower edges of guide-plates 29 secured to the side of the cage 23.

A first abutment member is secured to the cage for movement therewith and comprises three abutments 30, 31, 32 respectively to engage the control stops A, B, C of the first group of the row of control stops in the event that a stop A, B, or C is raised into the path of the abutments before the differential device is moved from the starting position thereof. In Figure 1 the differential device is shown in the fully forward position thereof, which is most remote from its starting position.

A second abutment 33 depends from the second rack 22 and is slidable in and guided by a longitudinal groove in the plate 17. When the differential device is moved from its starting position the abutment 33, as described below, can be engaged by any one of the control stops 1 to 9 of the second group of control stops according to which stop is raised under control of a record card. As

shown in Figure 1, in its fully forward position, the abutment 33 is engaged'by a fixed stop 34.

A restoring element and frame members 35a are supported-by a pair of arms36, one at each end of the machine, the arms Sdbeing connected by links 37 with a rocking. arm 38' securedto a rocking shaft 39 which is rocked by suitable means, not shown, in timed relation with the main driving shaft of the machine. In the starting position the first rack 21. is locked relative to the restoring element 35 by a detent A which is urged by a spring 41 into a notch formed in the upper edge of the rack. The first rack 21 is urged'by springs 42 towards the fully forward position thereof and the restoring element'35 operates against the action of the springs 42' to retain the differential device in the starting position thereof.

Each spring 42 is, as shown in the drawing, anchored atone endtothe rack 21'and at'its other end to a plate carried by the frame members 35a. Accordingly, when the restoring element 35 is moved from its starting position the frame members 35a-also move with the restoring element so that the initial tension in the spring 42 is maintained until movement of the rack 21' is arrested as described below. Thus any increase in the tension in the springs is not effected until after the type-carrying member has been moved to the selected printing position and is due solely to the restoring member being moved to the fully forward position thereof which, as will be understood, must be a position such as to ensure full selection of type elements as the result of the operation of the differential device for effecting selection.

In operation, prior to the restoring element 35 permitting movement of the differential device from its starting position the control stops CS are set up in accordance with the sensing of a statistical record card. In Figure 2 it is assumed that the control stop B of the first group has been set up and that the control stop 3 of the second group has also been set up. Now, on operation of the restoring element 35' to move it to the fully forward position thereof, as illustrated in Figure 1, the springs 42 cause the first rack 21' to follow the forward movement the restoring element 35 and as the first rack 21 is coupled to thesecond rack 22 and the cage 23 through the pinion 24 these parts will also move together with the first rack 21 and will continue so to move until the abutment 31 on the cage 23 engages the control stop B of the first group of stops when further movement of the cage will be arrested. The springs 42, however, are still acting on the first rack 21 and as the cage 23 can no longer move the rack 21 causes the pinion 24 to be rotated thus effecting lengthwise relative movement between the first rack 21 and thesecond rack 22. This relative movement between the racks continues until the second abutment 33 on the second rack 22 engages the set-up control stop 3; Engagement of the second abutment 33 with the control stop 3 arrests further relative movement between the racks 21, 22 and the first rack 21 is thus arrested in a position such that the selected type element 13 is substantially in position to effect an impression on the paper 11 when the hammer 15 is actuated.

To efi'ect accurate alignment of the type elements 13, each first rack is provided with teeth 4-3 into which is moved a knife-edged aligner element 44. The aligner element 44 is common to all of the first racks 21 and is secured to a bar 45 which, at its opposite ends, is pivoted on a stand spindle 46 mounted in a sliding block 47. Connected at 48 to the bar 45, at each end thereof, is an arm .9 carrying a roller 50 which engages with a cam 51 secured to a rocking shaft 52 which is rocked by any suitable means, not shown, in timed relation with the rocking shaft 39. A spring 53 tends to urge the arm 49 to rock the aligner element 44 about its pivot 46 into engagement with the teeth 43. The cam 51 is operated to rock the arm 49 to remove the aligner element 44 from.

engagement with the teeth 43 just prior to the restoring element 35 being operated to restore the differential device to the starting'positions thereof;

Also in accordance with the present invention means is provided to effect accurate location of the type elements 13 with respect to the interponents 14 and such means comprises a draw member 54 integral with the sliding block 47, the: draw member being supported for reciprocation in the direction of the length of the first rack 21 and being provided with a roller 55 which is located in the fork of a member 56 secured to the rocking shaft 52 for rocking movement therewith. The member 56 is so positioned in relation to the cam 51 that it moves the draw member 54 slightly, to the right as viewed in Figure 1, just after the aligner element 44- has been engaged in the teeth 43 ofthe toothed'racks 21. This slight movement of the draw member causes the racks 21 to be moved slightly, to the right as viewed in Figure 1, until the selected type elements 13 are all accurately located in relation to the interponents 14 and to the position on the paper to which an impression is to be applied.

In printing machine which, as described herein, is controlled by statistical record cards, the machine often incorporates accumulators by which amounts recorded in the statistical'record'cards are registered and there will be occasions when it is desired, on the sensing of a particular record card, not to effect a printed record of the data sensed from that card. The present invention also embodies means whereby, under the control of a control hole or the like on a record card, the differential device for any particular column may be rendered inoperative.

As is shown in Figures 1 and 4 of the drawings, this device consists of an eliminator'stop 57 which is actuated by a transmission element 18 and which is coupled to a predetermined one of the control stops of the first group of control stops so-that such control stop is actuated simultaneously with the actuation of the eliminator stop. As shown in the drawings the coupling comprises a plate 58 secured to the eliminator stop 57 and engageable beneath a pin 59 on the control stop B.

In Figure 4 it is assumed that the differential device is in its starting position that a record card has just been sensed, and that a control hole has been sensed in the record card resulting in the setting up of the eliminator stop 57. The setting up of the eliminator stop 57 causes this stop to be inserted into a recess 60 in the second rack 22 and the control stop B simultaneously to be interposed into the path of the abutment 31 on the cage 23. With the eliminator stop 57 and the control stop B set up as just described, the diiferential device is rendered inoperative and is prevented from following the restoring element 35' on the next forward movement thereof which, otherwise, would permit movement of the differential device away from the starting position thereof.

I claim:

1. In a statistical machine controlled by record cards, apparatus comprising'the combination with a plurality of differentially settable type element carrying members, and a row of control stops settable under control of a record card'to control the setting of said type element carrying members, of a diflerential device for each row of control stops, said device being supported for movement over and lengthwise of the row of control stops and including a cage, a first toothed rack supporting a type element carrying member, a secondtoothed rack, said racks being movable with the cage and lengthwise relatively one to the other and to the cage, and a rotatable pinion supported by the cage and coupling said racks, a first abutment member on said'cage, said abutment member having three abutments each for co-operation with a predetermined one of three control stops forming a first group of stops in saidrow and arranged on engagement of any one of the abutments with the stop appropriated thereto to arrest movement of. the-cage, a second abutment member on said second rack to arrest movement thereof on engagement with an actuated stop of a second group of stops in said row, resilient means acting on said first rack and tending to urge the dilferential device towards said first group, a restoring element common to the differential devices and co-operating with the first racks thereof to of said resilient means.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, including aligner teeth on each said first rack, an aligner element common moved to the type determined by the located in the printing positions thereof.

4. In a statistical machine with a predetermined one 6 gagement of any one of the abutments with the stop appropriated thereto to arrest movement of the cage, a

5. In a statistical machine controlled by record cards, apparatus comprising a plurality of difierential devices acting on said first tial device away from a starting efi'ect relative movement between the racks on arrest of the cage, and a restoring element co-operating with the first racks of said diiferential devices a first abutment member carried by three abutments for co-operation With predetermined ones of the stops of said first group into the path of said References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,197,276 Ellis Sept. 5, 1916 1,260,704 Peirce Mar. 26, 1918 2,296,276 Gollwitzer Sept. 22, 1942 2,342,529 Chase Feb. 22, 1944 

